How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
by Josephine77
Summary: Ruby decides to follow when Belle sneaks out of the celebration announcing the future arrival of Snow's and Charming's second child. After finding her sequestered in the castle's library while everyone is celebrating, Ruby and Belle have a heart-to-heart and talk about buried feelings and unexpected jealousies. Rumbelle and Ruby/Belle friendship (no RedBeauty romance)


_Missing moment that takes place after the second curse sends everyone back to the Enchanted Forest. Ruby/Belle friendship, non-romance._

"Ruby," the Widow Lucas barked amidst the joyful noise echoing around the Great Hall of the castle to her granddaughter. "Where are you going?"

It was rare that the kingdom had cause for celebration in recent times. Getting cursed and whisked to various lands left one unsettled and unsure. Even now as there was another threat on the horizon, many were gathering in merriment.

"You shouldn't be slinking off right now after Snow's and David's announcement," Granny berated. "This is a time for congratulations. Not a time to be skipping out to meet with God knows who."

"I already offered my congratulations and had a toast." Ruby smiled at her grandmother. "And I wasn't going out to meet 'god knows who'. I just wanted to see if everything was fine with Belle."

Looking around for a glimpse of the girl she'd seen not five minutes ago raise a glass in celebration, Granny questioned, "She was just here."

"Yes, but I just noticed her quietly walking out of the hall."

"Go, child," Granny sighed. "See that she's okay. She's putting on good front, but I know she's still hurting. I might not have approved of some of her life choices, but that girl did love him."

"Thank you," Ruby replied, side hugging her grandmother. "Make my excuses, please if anyone notices."

Ruby silently slipped out of the Great Hall and ascended the grand staircase just outside. Instinctively, she headed to the third floor and then proceeded down the maze of corridors. The differences between Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forrest hit her often since returning. After the curse broke, they'd all thought they wanted to return home. She as much as anyone. Now that she was once again in the land of her birth, Ruby missed the insulated feeling of small town living. Catching all the gossip at the diner, jogging on the beach. And she couldn't lie to herself. While magic was fine if you had it, living without technology was not something she was enjoying now that it was absent from her life. Her pining for her old life, however, were interrupted by the light sound of crying as she approached her intended destination.

The castle's third floor library was not one of Ruby's frequent haunts before the curse. The Great Room, Snow's private parlor, and even the kitchens were common places she could have been found. However, if one thing was true about her friend, it was that books were a lodestone to Belle. Ruby, herself, enjoyed a good bodice-ripping romance novel every once in a while, but to Belle books were life.

Since their return, Belle had made it her self-appointed mission to reorganize the chaos that had become of Snow's ancestral libraries. Ruby hadn't even realized the castle held more than one, let alone many. The third floor library, traditionally open to visiting guests and dignitaries, was Belle's current mission. Nobody had questioned the former librarian when she'd started her task, knowing it was her way of coping with her loss.

"Belle," Ruby called out, searching out her friend amid the various piles of books scattered about the floor.

"Over here" a voice traveled from behind a stack of books near the bank of windows.

Ruby sidestepped tables and chairs sitting haphazardly around the room and found her target sitting cross-legged on the floor. An unopened tome lay on her lap as she brushed tears from her eyes.

"Belle, what's going on?" Ruby sunk down to the floor, pushing a pile of books away as she sat next to her friend.

"I'm sorry," Belle responded, taking a large breath to staunch the next round of tears threatening to escape. "I…I…"

"It's okay." Ruby rubbed her friends back in comfort, not rushing her friend into explaining anything until she was ready. "Whatever is wrong, you know I'm here for you."

Leaning her head on her friend's shoulder, they sat quietly for a moment before Belle confessed, her voice barely a whisper, "I'm a horrible person."

"Ha!" Ruby exclaimed in astonishment. "Belle, you're the most kind, considerate person I know. If you're horrible I'm afraid of what it says about the rest of us."

Belle lifted her head and pulled away a little. "No, you don't understand."

"Okay, Miss Horrible," Ruby placated. "Tell my why you think you're so horrible."

"Snow's pregnant," Belle answered, as if that explained everything.

Ruby's confusion was evident on her face. "I think you're going to have to elaborate a little more for me."

Twisting her hands in her lap, Belle looked up and reiterated, "Snow's pregnant." She paused before adding, "And I'm not."

"Okay, that didn't really clear up anything for me." Ruby shook her head, trying to sort through the cryptic explanation her friend had just given. "Okay, let me deal with this first. Are you trying to get pregnant?

Sighing, Belle lifted the heavy book off her lap and turned to face her friend. "No, of course I'm not." She knew she wasn't explaining this well, but her emotions were scattered worse than the books around the room.

"Then how is Snow announcing her pregnancy connected to you being a terrible person?" Ruby asked, trying sort through the sparse information. "What am I missing?"

"Let me just say," Belle explained while taking a handkerchief from her pocket. "I adore Snow and David. They've given me shelter and a home despite all the history between them and Rumple. And I am ecstatic about their good news." She dabbed the cloth at her nose. "But after the toast I had to leave. I kept thinking over and over again that it's not fair that Snow gets to have something that I'll never have."

"Oh, honey," Ruby reached out and grasped one of Belle's hands. "That doesn't make you a horrible person. It just means you're human." Giving the hand a gentle squeeze, Ruby asked, "You've never mentioned wanting children. Was it something you were thinking about?"

"No," Belle answered quickly. "We never even really talked about it." Sighing, she pulled her hand from Ruby's and sat beside her friend once again, their back both resting against a large chair behind them. "I thought about it, I guess, in an abstract way. Something for the future, after Baelfire was found. I thought maybe he'd finally seek a way to relinquish his curse and we could start a family together. In Storybrooke."

"You wanted to stay in Storybrooke?" her friend inquired.

"This land holds too many temptations for Rumple," Belle admitted. "I dearly loved him, but I wasn't blind to his weaknesses."

"Why do you think this hit you now?" Ruby asked. "You've never been jealous of David and Snow before, have you?"

Belle played the creases of her skirt and confessed, "I missed my courses."

"What?" Ruby asked, surprised at this admission. "When?"

"We were here a month or so and I realized my courses hadn't come," Belle explained . "It's not the first I've been irregular with my cycle but another week passed and it still hadn't arrived. At first I didn't want to contemplate it, but the idea grew on me. I began to hope."

"Oh, Belle," Ruby said softly.

"I knew the chances were slim. The only time it could have happened was…." Belle trailed off as she saw her friend mentally counting in her head.

"Belle," Ruby said in a mock scandalized voice. "You dog! He was back a day before everything went down."

Smiling through her tears at her friend's gentle teasing, Belle explained sheepishly, "He was back. We were celebrating."

Bumping her shoulder against Belle's, Ruby laughed, "You celebrated differently than I did. Although Snow and David evidently had the same idea."

"It's strange," Belle murmured. "Before the curse, I might have been horrified to have a child out of wedlock. No husband, no real home." Belle paused, dabbing at her eyes once again. "I would have been shunned, thought of as a loose woman. People already probably thought of me as the Dark One's mistress. But I began to pray it was true. I'd lost the only love of my life, but everyday that my courses didn't come, there was a chance that a part of him would always be with me."

Ruby didn't know what to say to comfort her friend. "Are you sure you're not?"

Belle nodded her head in confirmation, "I cried when it came. Silly isn't it? Mourning something that never was."

"No, it's not," her friend said. "When Snow and Charming made their announcement today…"

"I'm so happy for them," Belle countered. "I am. Very. But at the same time I wanted to escape. Everything came rushing back at me."

"Humph," Ruby exclaimed as she pulled herself up and reached for Belle's hand. "Come on."

"Ruby," she pleaded. "I really don't feel like going back down there and celebrating."

"Good. Because we're not," Ruby countered, pulling her friend up. "You, missy, are going to go back to your chamber and I am going to liberate a few bottles of wine from kitchens. Then we will proceed to get trashed while we drink to our sorrows away."

"Not a very mature way of dealing with things, is it?" Belle laughed, wrapping her arm around her friend's waist as they walked toward the doorway.

"Granny will kill me if she ever finds out and we'll have massive headaches come morning," Ruby explained. "But it will be totally worth it. Besides, we deserve to let loose and what better time than when everyone else is celebrating."

Belle hugged her friend and whispered to her friend, "Thank you." Her heart might not whole again, if it ever would, but she found a bit of comfort in knowing she had friends who would be there for her.


End file.
